Toll-Free Number Portability: Your Company Phone Number Moves With You

In the past, there was one major downside to having a phone number: we were limited to one building. If we needed to go on a business trip, we instantly lost access to this number (and our clients!). If we needed to upsize and change offices, it was really tricky to keep the same phone number and almost impossible if you moved locations.

For businesses all around the world, lack of business number and toll-free number portability has been causing issues for decades – it disrupts the lines of communication between the business and their customers. As soon as this happens, the customers get unhappy, their concerns aren’t fixed in good time, and eventually they start looking for another company who can provide a better service.

In years gone by, this was just a fact of business and one we had to accept. Now though, the story’s a little different and there’s a solution that provides portability for your number.

Introducing VoIP

Shortened to Voice-over Internet Protocol, a VoIP service can be installed at an affordable price. Essentially, the phone system will take traditional radio signals and convert them into digital signals instead. Instantly, this improves the quality of your audio as well as video which will benefit your employees, suppliers, customers, and every other stakeholder. In addition to improving the quality, you can also bypass charges from expensive phone companies which can save you a significant sum of money in the long-term. In fact, the VoIP service will eventually pay for itself.

While these benefits are all great news, there’s one feature that may just persuade you to this new technology; toll-free number portability. First and foremost, you can get a number for any area code regardless of where your business is located. For example, some companies have a headquarters number before then adding local numbers for other locations. For your business, this is fantastic because it allows you to get closer to your customers and build credibility and trust.

Portability

If you researched VoIP services a handful of years ago, you would have seen the limitations that existed with portability. In the early stages, even VoIP numbers weren’t portable and this caused huge problems considering the rest of the service was so beneficial. Now, this limitation has been removed and you can take your number wherever you go. Whether you’re going on a business trip or even moving office, the VoIP system comes with you making your business accessible at all times.

Called ‘number portability’, most services actually offer this feature now and this is ideal for those in competitive markets. With this addition, you can keep in contact with employees and clients when away from the office and you don’t need to go through the expensive process of advertising a new phone number. After years of having the same numbers and clients having your phone number written down, saved on their devices, or stored away on a leaflet, changing your phone number can be detrimental for a business. With some, they choose to keep two offices open at the same time until the calls in the first office stop but this is clearly inefficient.

Toll-free number portability and VoIP services make your business more accessible at all times, allowing you to provide better customer service.

Toll-Free Number Portability

Nowadays, people turn to the internet and mobile apps for customer support because they don’t want to pay to call the business. Sure, technology has certainly made this easier but we live in a digital world and customers are missing that personal touch that used to exist many years ago. Now, you can bring this back with a toll-free number. Without having to pay anything, your customers can receive help and re-introduce that personal interaction that normally transforms customers into long-term business partners.

Virtual Extension

To finish, we should also explain that you can install virtual extensions which allow your employees their own personal lines. Again, they can access this line from wherever they are which is great for those who work at home or take regular business trips. For your customers, they get to access their favorite employee even when away from the office rather than having to tell their story to someone else or wait for a certain worker to return

Summary

As you can see, there are numerous benefits to introducing VoIP to your business this year and toll-free number portability is certainly one of the best. If you want to take your business forward this year and improve accessibility for your consumers, this is a great way to get started!